At Tahoe, they’re off and skiing after early dusting of...

1of 2Wufky Crosy has his wolf ears on for an opening day run at Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe. The resort on the Nevada side of the lake became the first to open in the area.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

2of 2Snowmaking machines work to cover the slopes at Boreal Mountain Resort, which is scheduled to open Wednesday.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

RENO — Bridget Francis paused near the top of the Wizard chair lift, one foot locked into her snowboard as she asked a nearby worker to take a picture of her with the snow-covered slopes in the background.

It had been nearly two decades since Francis had skied or snowboarded and she smiled at the top of a beginner run powdered with mostly man-made snow at Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe, which, on Tuesday, became the first of the Tahoe area resorts to open its doors for the ski season. A light dusting of snow over the weekend prompted the early opening.

“I had been stalking (Mount Rose) on Instagram and Facebook to see when they would open,” said Francis, who lives in Reno. “I wanted to come as soon as I saw it was open.”

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And she did, arriving shortly after Mount Rose opened its beginner runs, a favorite for locals.

Last ski season’s record snowfall kept some resorts open into July, and early forecasts are calling for another good year, said Andy Chapman, president of the Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau.

“The word I used to describe last year was relentless,” Chapman said. “It was a big winter. Forecasts are showing we should have what would be considered a normal winter, which is good.”

In the last ski season, 800 inches of snow fell in some parts of the Tahoe area, twice as much as in an average year. Chapman said occupancy forecasting for the region is showing a 4 percent increase over last year based on reservations already made for November to March. On average, the Tahoe area sees 3 million ski visitors during the season.

“We saw the phones ringing off the hook with the dusting last weekend,” Chapman said.

Many resorts are targeting Millennials by including GoPro rentals to record their trip down the slopes and offering work spaces for those who have a hard time unplugging. Industry experts have long worried that younger generations are not taking up snow sports at a rate that would replace aging Baby Boomers and Generation Xers.

But Chapman said those aging skiers are turning to another snow sport — Nordic or cross-country skiing.

“We are seeing a resurgence among the aging population on the cross-country and Nordic side,” Chapman said, adding that Tahoe is well positioned to accommodate those interests with nine Nordic operators, including Royal Gorge Cross-Country Ski Resort, the largest cross-country ski area in North America.

On Tuesday, the concern that followed years of drought had all but been replaced by the excitement of early snow. Boreal Mountain Resort in Soda Springs announced it would open Wednesday. Other Tahoe area resorts are expected to open over the next two weeks.

“Our new norm is becoming a six-month season,” said Siani Nau, a community relations manager at Mount Rose. “In the past, there wasn’t demand for late season. Now there is.”

At Mount Rose on Tuesday, the sky was clear and the temperature was 36 degrees. A steady but small stream of experienced skiers and first-timers alike were drifting down the three beginner trails —the Merlin, Witches Brew and Spellbound. The rest of the trails will open when there’s more snow.

“I love this weather,” said Lotti Laher, a self-proclaimed OK snowboarder — “not really, really good” — who lives in Santa Barbara by way of Austria.

Guna Griswold of Reno, who has been skiing Mount Rose for 14 years and normally skis 100 days a year at Tahoe area resorts, smiled as she sailed down a beginner trail.

“This gets me out of the house and into the fresh air,” Griswold said.

In the parking lot, Matt Alder busily tied, buckled and zipped his three children — ages 13, 10 and 7 — into their snow gear before heading to the lift. This year, for the first time, Alder bought season tickets for his family. At Mount Rose, a season pass with no blackout dates is $599 for adults and $299 for children. Early season daily lift passes are $59 for adults and $29 for children.

Boreal, where season passes are $319 for adults and $149 for children, will be the first in California to open.

Michael Reitzell, president of the California Ski Industry Association, said many resorts have turned to different pricing models to draw new customers, such as midweek passes and passes that allow skiers to go to multiple resorts in the Tahoe area, in other states and even other countries.

“We’re excited about getting the season off to a good start,” Reitzell said. “We are hoping for a nice normal year of snowfall. Less than last year is fine with everyone, given the challenges the resorts had and the challenges the guests had getting up to the mountains.”

Melody Gutierrez joined the San Francisco Chronicle in 2013 to cover politics from the Sacramento bureau. Previously, she was a senior writer who covered politics, education and sports for The Sacramento Bee.

With an emphasis on watchdog reporting, she has written investigative stories on pension spiking, high school steroid use, troubles in a school police force and how the state failed to notify a school district that a teacher was barred from foster care parenting due to multiple molestation allegations.

She has also examined the state’s use of segregation cells for prisoners, detailed legislative and legal efforts to curtail "revenge porn" and chronicled the effects of the drought in California.